Why your client should tell you EVERYTHING about their website before you start designing

Most of the time, clients don’t know what they want. You tell them that they should be precise. But in the end, they still don’t know what they want. And you are stuck with a bad website. After: What if I told you that there is a way for you to find out exactly what your client wants? Introducing content-first strategy, an approach to building websites that provides valuable information to both developers and clients.

How to design a new website

It’s no secret that the web designer will build a new website based on available information he got from his clients and the continues according to his own research, which will determine how successful it will eventually be. That’s why I recommend to everyone who’s starting with web design, to get the most details from the clients. An exact specification in the inquiry or a list of required functions in Word is not a solution. Be careful, you’re fundamentally harming yourself. 

Web design is a process that should help the customer to improve their business. Whether it’s a business card, an e-shop or a magazine, it’s always necessary to design the website to be visually beautiful, intuitive for visitors and clearly fulfill its goals. Is it supposed to get the visitor to sign-up for newsletter? Or should it encourage them to make a purchase? It pays off to thoroughly draft the plan for reaching profit.

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Don’t underestimate web design

Designing websites is one of the most important things for business and marketing nowadays. Everyone knows it, but not everyone is willing to invest the resources and time that this process deserves. 

As a web designer I often encounter inquiries that incomprehensibly require the lowest possible price and highest quality. At meetings, I always try to persuade the investor that the investment into the website takes into account the final functioning of his whole company and the effectiveness of the promotion. So, what’s the process of web design? Let’s take a look.

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What’s the web design process in practice? 

First, I have to warn everyone who has anything to do with web design that clients often live in a misconception about how long it takes to design a website. It’s important to inform the client, that if he wants high quality website, he has to wait for it. It usually takes 2-3 months from the first meeting to the website launch. And that’s only if the client is satisfied with the result. 

Therefore, for you as a designer, it’s important to request all necessary data that are essential for you as a graphic designer. Request photos and text which will be posted on the website. If the client doesn’t have any photos, take care of getting them yourself. The same goes for the texts which you’ll then easily incorporate into the graphics. 

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Web layout according to UX/UI and functionality for marketing

One of the most important parts for you as a graphic designer is thinking through what will work on the web from the marketing point of view and how. Think about how the entire website will be built. Prepare a meaningful web for future visitors, meaning a good user interface. 

Strategically avoid eventual misunderstandings on what was and wasn’t supposed to be there with the client. If you prepare the content well before you start creating the graphics, the final website will fulfill its goals. Users will navigate clearly around and intuitively will search for what they need and their behavior will reach the desired profit. 

You, as a UX designer, should work on your design in one of three forms: 

1. in form of a text assignment in Word 
2. in form of a wireframe, so-called sketch of a website
3. as a prototype - in case of more complicated website or an on-line project

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Finally, the graphics

When you’ve finally finished building the key proprieties of the website and you know roughly how the final web should look like, it’s time for graphics. This phase is the most important for web visitors. Visitors will enjoy a good design. Otherwise, they will close the website immediately. Of course, it is not based on a single design. Prepare each subpage so it corresponds with the content of the website. Don’t hesitate to communicate a little more with the client in this phase. Usually, there are two rounds of corrections, where the client submits his comments. 

Also don’t hesitate to recommend various tips to the client, which will help his website to easily surpass the competition. Do you want to find out how to prepare a design so it’s focused well on the content? Read here. Also, keep in mind that a good design should be able to fulfill its functions for at least two to three years ahead. Then it should be redesigned. It’s good to mention this to the client during the meeting. 

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